The Semblance of the Wesen
by Anime PJ
Summary: Wesen, like Faunus, have faced much discrimination over the years. So many of them have gone into hiding that many people believe them to be extinct. Those that don't hide are either violently attacking humans or being abused by them. It's about time somebody showed Remnant how good a Wesen can be, don't you agree? Slow updates - be patient.
1. Trailer

**Okay, before anyone gets too excited, I'm probably not going to update this for a fair while after I upload this first chapter. I have a lot of stuff to do and I just wanted to get this out since I have it. I really haven't got much actually planned out for this story yet, but I thought I should at least release the character trailer.**

 **That being said, this is a** ** _RWBY_** **story crossed over with the T.V. series** ** _Grimm_** **. I'm essentially integrating the Wesen from** ** _Grimm_** **into the RWBYverse. For those followers of mine who don't watch** ** _Grimm_** **, most of it will be explained as the story goes on, so don't worry about it. I've been thinking about the pairing, and I don't know whether I should pair my character with Blake or Yang (Blake admittedly makes sense given the nature of the Wesen, but Yang is also in my mind ...), so if you could put your opinion forth I would be most grateful.**

 **Please enjoy the trailer for my OC!**

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Trailer

The slum district in the kingdom of Vale was mostly filled with Faunus who had to live there to avoid the discrimination of the humans. There were poor humans living down there, of course, but in the slums everyone was the same, struggling to survive in a cold, hard world. Contrary to popular belief, however, the humans and the Faunus were not the only races that inhabited the world of Remnant. This third race went unnoticed by most people; only certain individuals knew of the existence of the Wesen *****.

Some believe that the Wesen are merely Faunus who are either a step up or a step down the evolutionary chart, but that is not the case. They are an entirely different race. Faunus merely inherited the ears, the tails, the claws, the most basic traits of different kinds of animals. The Wesen were very nearly _entirely_ animal. They got the fur, the abilities, the instincts, _everything_. The abilities and instincts of an animal combined with the intelligence of a human/Faunus—it is no wonder that people back before/during the civil rights war were so afraid of them. They had traditions and behaviours that made them … unsavoury to be around.

Most of them had been wiped out in the war, true enough. They hadn't had a particularly high population volume anyway. But were they gone? No. Not even remotely.

 _They_ quite often lived in the slums.

Their ability to Woge ***** meant they went almost entirely undetected by human and Faunus alike, so it was a simple matter for them to go into hiding after all the blood had been shed. Only the most observant of Huntsmen and Huntresses could see through their camouflage.

It is here in these slums that our story begins, dear readers.

The young man in the black overcoat moved through the slums with a purpose. He was a tall seventeen year old boy, his hair a strange colouration of grey with thin black stripes moving through it. His eyes were a brilliant orange and slightly wider than usual. The long-sleeve t-shirt he wore beneath his overcoat was black, patterned to have a water rippling effect, and had the red shape of a tiger's head embroidered at the centre. He never once took his hands out of his pockets.

He was looking for somebody. There was somebody living down there who was causing quite a lot of trouble for quite a lot of people. The young man hadn't been directly affected by this man's activities, but due to the … circumstances he felt obligated to do something.

He moved swiftly through the streets, searching. He knew who he was looking for, but he also knew he would have to be careful in how he approached the situation. The slums were a heavily populated area, very cramped in, and he didn't want to risk anybody else getting hurt as he and the man dealt with their … business. He had found the man a few days before, had watched him in his daily routine, and was very sure of where it would be best to strike.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" came a shout from somewhere in the slums … then what sounded like a loud growl. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU MONSTER!? _LEAVE HER ALONE!_ " The unmistakable sound of a girl crying out could be heard.

" _Shit,_ " the young man hissed under his breath. He removed his hands from his pockets, revealing that he wore a thick set of bagh naka ***** on each hand. He took off in a fast run, narrowly dodging people as he passed them, even shoving a few away from him if they were impossible to avoid. This situation had now become a rescue, and he hadn't counted on that.

He dashed through the slums, going far faster than most humans would find possible to do without some kind of Semblance, and eventually found a woman with sheep ears on her knees and crying.

"Which way did they go?" he asked.

The woman sniffed. She shakily nodded her head down an alleyway.

The young man nodded his thanks. "I'll get your daughter back," he said. Then he took off running down the alley. He sniffed deeply. Yes, he could smell it now; the scent of the man he was tracking was still fresh. He kept running, turning right and then left and then right again, running, running, running. Eventually he came to a dead end in an alleyway, and at the end stood a large man with a beard that covered most of his face. At his feet and backed into a corner, was a little sheep-eared girl.

"Hey!" the young man snapped. The man looked at him and bared his teeth like a cornered animal. "Let her go, you son of a bitch, and maybe we can give you to the cops. Or would you prefer to do this the hard way?"

The man actually _growled_. "You threatening me, boy?" he asked, his voice rough and savage. "I ought to eat you up, too."

The man's bared teeth lengthened into sharpened points, almost like a dog's. His eyes got smaller, more menacing. The hair that covered most of his face now covered all of it, and his very human ears became wolf ears. The wolf Wesen stood and growled at the young man, who was unimpressed.

"A Blutbad *****?" said the young man. He let out a hum. "Admittedly, I _had_ suspected, but I was starting to think you'd be a little more interesting. Oh well. Let's dance, big bad wolf!" He raised his fists, raising his bagh naka in the process. "The _Claws of the Jungle_ are very eager to make your acquaintance."

The Blutbad snarled at him. The child apparently forgotten, he leapt forwards, raising his hands—which now had claws instead of fingernails—and swiped at the young man. Said young man simple moved to the side in a fluid, speedy motion that the Blutbad had apparently not been expecting. He looked at him, incredulous, for a few moments, then leapt at him again, growling savagely in rage.

The young man had a smirk on his face the entire time. He ducked and dodged and jumped to avoid the claws, simply watching as the wolf-like Wesen continued trying to claw him. Then the Blutbad started lunging and making grabbing motions, trying to grab him, likely wanting to tear his throat out with his teeth. Eventually the young man grew tired of avoiding the attack, and dodged one final time, lifting a leg and delivering a kick to the chest of the Blutbad when he failed to land his attack on him. The Blutbad snarled and glared at him.

"My turn now, wolfie," the young man said with a grin.

He charged towards the Blutbad and delivered a hard punch to his chest. The bagh naka on his knuckles sunk into the flesh of the Blutbad's chest, and he howled in pain and rage. The young man delivered punches and kicks—the kicks being much less lethal—and drove the Blutbad backwards, away from the child he had been intending to eat.

It was all going well until the Blutbad delivered an unexpected strike of his own. As the young man was preparing to deliver another kick, the Blutbad managed to grab onto his leg, showing a blood-thirsty grin, and then brought a clawed hand up and swiped it across the left side of the young man's face. Blood oozed from the four shallow cuts that now marked the young man's face.

"That," said the young man, his voice coming out as a growl, "was a bad move, wolf boy."

The Blutbad stepped backwards, shocked, as the young man began to Woge before his eyes. The young man's grey and black hair seemed to spread, sprouting up on his hands and the rest of his body with much thicker black stripes. His eyes changed shape, becoming more feline-like in nature, as did his ears. His hands gained actual claws to go along with the spikes on the bagh naka, and his teeth sharpened into fangs. Two particularly large fangs protruded from the upper mouth of the young man, making him resemble a sabre-toothed tiger.

"A Mauvais Dentes ***** …" the Blutbad said in disbelief. He began to look scared.

"Oh, you know the different kinds of Wesen, good," said the Mauvais Dentes. He was grinning, showing off his fangs. "At least that means I don't have to waste time explaining it."

Before the Blutbad even had the chance to respond, the Mauvais Dentes was upon him. The sabre-toothed tiger-like Wesen clawed at his chest, his face, his arms, his legs, _everywhere_. The Blutbad howled in pain and anguish as the Mauvais Dentes pummelled him brutally. The Blutbad seemed to give up on fighting, merely standing there as the Mauvais Dentes drew back his hand and brought his claws across his throat.

The blood-loss killed the Blutbad before it even hit the ground.

Breathing deeply, the Mauvais Dentes began to have his fur sink back into his skin. His claws vanished, his teeth became normal, and his eyes reshaped. The young man once again looked human. He turned to the little girl and smile weakly.

"You okay?" he asked.

The little girl nodded, dumbfounded and more than a little afraid.

"You don't have to be scared, I won't hurt you," the young man said to reassure her. He walked over and knelt down next to her, holding out a hand for her to take. "My name is Richie Parker. That man there has been eating children like you for a few weeks, so I had to stop him. You understand?"

The little girl swallowed, smiled a little, and nodded.

The young man smiled brightly at her.

"Come on," he said, "let's get you back to your mother."

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 **More about the history of the Wesen in the RWBYverse will be explained as the story progresses.**

 **It just occurred to me that I don't even have a theme song for this guy ... okay, could you guys please suggest some music that you think would go well with this guy? I'll listen to it and decide what to use.**

 ***Wesen (pronounced: Ves-sin; German for a 'being' or 'creature') are creatures with animal-like appearances, instincts and abilities that transform into human form in order to remain hidden.**

 ***Woge (pronounced: Voh-g; German noun meaning a high, powerful wave of water, or a large undulating mass of something) is the ability to transform from Wesen form to human form and back again.**

 ***Bagh naka are claw-like weapons of Indian descent that is designed to fit over the knuckles.**

 ***Blutbad (pronounced: Bloot-baad; a combination of the German words 'blut', which means 'blood', and 'bad' which means 'bath') are a wolf-like species of Wesen (plural: Blutbadden).**

 ***Mauvais Dentes (pronounced: Mo-vay don-tez; a combination of the French words 'mauvais', which means 'bad', and 'dents', which means 'teeth') are a sabre-toothed tiger-like species of Wesen.**

 **I'll explain the different terms as they show up, as I know they can be difficult to understand otherwise (and I know how tedious it is to Google everything; trust me, I had to do it a lot). I likely won't be updating this for a while, but I thought I might as well lay the groundwork. Once again, any help on the pairing is appreciated (it's between Blake and Yang).**

 **Props to anyone who can guess what I'm referencing with my character. I'll give you a clue: it's a novel, not a fairy tale or a myth.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Richie Arrives at Beacon

**Hello to those of you who actually read this! With the trailer out of the way, I can now begin the story proper!**

 **Since no one's even tried to guess what novel my character is based on, I guess I'll tell you. You ever read _Life of Pi_ by Yann Martel? It's about a man who gets trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger named Richard Parker. My character's name is _Richie_ Parker, and he's a sabre-tooth tiger-like Wesen (there's no just plain tiger types to my knowledge); the shirt he wears shows a tiger head with a water rippling effect. Should I go on?**

 **Anyway, I hope the few of you that actually read this enjoy the chapter.**

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Richie Arrives at Beacon

Richie Parker got out of the car and closed the door behind him. He walked to the front and peered in through the passenger side window, beaming away at the two in the front of the car.

"Well then, Mum and Dad," he said, "I guess I'll be seeing you when the first semester ends. Try not to go too nuts without me, will you? I can't have you having too much fun without me."

Richie's parents both beamed at him; he would be the first Hunter in the family, and they were remarkably proud of him – which he knew because they'd told him so practically every five seconds since he said he was attending Beacon Academy.

Richie's mother reached out of the window of the car and hugged him. "You be a good boy, okay, Richie?" She was a beautiful woman with bright green eyes and flowing brown hair.

"Yes, Mum," said Richie with a roll of his eyes. "I'll be the perfect example of a well-behaved five year old."

His father chuckled. "You show 'em who's boss, okay, Rich?" He was a big guy with short black hair and brown eyes. He wore a police uniform as his job required.

Richie threw a salute at his father. "You got it, old man." He stood back from the car. "I'll see you guys at some point after the first semester, okay?"

His parents bid him farewell, then they drove off.

Richie smiled to himself. He was finally going to Beacon Academy … he was finally going to become a real Huntsman. He had always known he'd wanted to help people – his mother had hammered into him stories of heroes and villains, and wars and victories when he was little – and going to this school was the biggest step he could possibly take in achieving what he'd always wanted. Fighting monsters was something Richie was already accustomed to … but the monsters he fought most of the time were a lot more like him than the Creatures of Grimm could ever be.

As a Wesen, Richie was often expected to act with savagery, tearing the innocent limb from limb, being the hideous monster that society had painted every Wesen to be. But not all Wesen were like that. They used to be, true enough, but any modern Wesen would tell you that the savage traditions of the old Wesen were outdated and looked down upon in the Wesen community. But even so, there were still Wesen who were unwilling to stop the old ways and would act as they had always thought a Wesen _should_ act: like the animals they so closely resembled.

Take the Blutbadden for example. They were infamous throughout history for kidnapping and eating small children. But very few of them did so now, thinking the eating of any sentient creature was savage and monstrous … but a few still kept up the old practices. Those that did normally wound up dead or imprisoned. Richie had recently killed a rogue Blutbad for this very reason.

Richie got in the line of bustling students, all boarding an airship. He looked around at all the other Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. Some of them he recognised from Signal Academy, others he could not place. He discreetly sniffed the air, picking up the scents of both Human and Faunus, but no other Wesen. They may have camouflaged their scent – which a lot of Wesen did – but if that was true they clearly had no plans of showing what they really looked like. Richie respected their decision, but was against it.

The only reason Richie himself kept up his human form was because he was used to it – that, and he didn't want to freak out the people who hadn't every heard of Wesen before. He didn't particularly care if people knew what he was, but he also knew that most of them had never heard of such creatures and would probably react violently and fearfully until it was explained to them. He had faith that such things would be taught to them at the school, because most Hunters knew of the existence of the Wesen, they simply chose not to speak of it. Richie had put _Wesen_ under the "race" section of his application to the school and he had been accepted, so the headmaster definitely knew what they were.

Richie had to wonder, though, what sort of man Professor Ozpin, Beacon's headmaster, was. The Wesen, by reputation, were known to be incredibly violent and destructive creatures, yet this man had apparently seen one signing up to attend his school and been completely okay with it. It was strange. Richie couldn't help but think that this man must either have an extraordinary amount of faith … or he simply didn't care about any potential threat to his students. Richie was an optimistic person by nature, so he chose to believe the former.

He was one of the last to board the airship, and within minutes they were up in the air, flying above the clouds themselves. The inside of the airship was bustling with the noise of excitedly chattering students. It seemed that no matter where Richie chose to stand, he wasn't going to get any peace and quiet. But that was fine. It was an exciting day, after all, and everyone was well within their rights to be as loud as possible. Richie picked a secluded little spot in the corner – near a bin just in case he decided to have a snack and had to throw anything away – and placed a pair of headphones in his ears. He started listening to "Monster" by Skillet.

Richie smiled as the lyrics of one of his favourite songs came to his ears. While he wouldn't consider himself a monster – the only Wesen he would consider monsters are the ones that mindlessly kill – he could appreciate the song's comments about hiding something rather beastly within oneself.

He left one headphone loosely tucked behind his ear so that he could hear any announcements, should they need to be made. He briefly caught a news report about the wanted criminal Roman Torchwick still being at large. Then came a report that _really_ interested him.

It was a report about a Faunus civil rights rally that went bad when it was interrupted by the White Fang, a group of Faunus radicals who aimed to gain acknowledgement and equality from the humans through fear and destruction. The caught Richie's interest for two reasons. One: the Faunus and the Wesen had been allied together in the war for civil rights all those years ago because they were discriminated against in similar fashions. Two: there were Wesen members of the White Fang.

It would seem that only Richie and other Wesen who paid attention had noticed this. Members of the White Fang all wear masks – skeletal masks reminiscent of the Creatures of Grimm – so their faces were never fully visible. But if one looked carefully enough they would see, occasionally, an amount of fur or a set of long fangs on the parts of the face that _are_ visible. Not just fur and fangs, but scales and claws, too. And once there had even been a Manticore ***** at one of their attacks, its tail very clearly visible, as was its shaggy mane of hair. It had been passed off as a "freak of nature" by all the media outlets that had covered it, as none of them were aware that the Wesen are not extinct.

Richie felt his stomach churn as his thoughts turned to the Wesen members of the White Fang. _You don't want equal rights, you lying fucks,_ he thought to himself angrily. _You're just a bunch of those savages who think following the old ways is the way to go. You just want to kill as your ancestors did. Honestly, why don't these murdering scumbags wake the fuck up and join the modern world?_ He was not normally one to think badly of his own people but these Wesen gave the species as a whole a bad name, and that made him angry. It was because of Wesen like them that the others felt the need to hide all the time.

Richie hoped to change that in his time at Beacon.

That was his primary goal: to reintroduce the Wesen to society in a way that didn't make them out to be monsters. He wanted the Wesen to come out hiding and start taking pride in what they were. What better way to do that than to have a Wesen become one of mankind's protectors?

His thought process abruptly came to an end when the holographic screen showing the news disappeared and in its place appeared the holographic image of a woman. She was middle-aged – but still incredibly beautiful by most standards – with blonde hair tied up in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin, oval-framed glasses. She had Caucasian skin. She wore a white long-sleeved suit that exposed part of her chest, and sleeves that appeared puffy until they reached the wrist, where they tightened before spreading out again when they reached the hands. On her bottom half was a black business skirt with buttons running down the front. On her feet she wore black boots with brown heels. On her back was a tattered-looking cape that was black on the outside and purple on the inside.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon," said the hologram of the woman. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

The hologram vanished as quickly and suddenly as it appeared.

While Richie was not standing near the window, he could still see out of it due to its sheer size. They were passing over the city of Vale and the view was spectacular. He could see _everything_. He could even see Signal Academy, where he had attended before coming to Beacon. He didn't know any of the other people who came from Signal to Beacon, but he knew _of_ them. Regardless, it would be nice to have a few familiar faces around while he was there.

Richie didn't see the blonde guy's face at first; all he saw was the head of messy blonde hair as this guy practically threw his head over the bin Richie was standing near and started throwing up.

Richie, at a loss as of what to do, simply patted the guy on the back. "You okay, buddy?" he asked sympathetically.

"Y-yeah …" the guy said weakly. He seemed to finish throwing up and looked up at Richie, revealing two sapphire blue eyes and a slightly green face that looked like it would normally be tanned Caucasian. "Motion sickness, you know?" He wore a white chest-plate and shoulder armour over a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves.

Richie chuckled, and the guy looked annoyed. Richie put his hands up in defence. "Sorry, man, didn't mean to laugh at you," he said. "It's just sort of funny that you came on here without any kind of medicine. You know there are pills that help with motion sickness, right?"

"I left mine at home …" the guy said, straightening himself up but making sure to stay by the bin. He green face went red as an incredible wave of embarrassment washed over him. "I was in such a hurry to leave the house this morning that I completely forgot to pick them up."

"Ah, okay," said Richie. He stuck out a hand. "The name's Richie Parker. Nice to meet you."

"Jaune Arc," said Jaune. He tried his best to grin. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

"… Do they?"

"Th-they will!" Jaune said indignantly.

Richie chuckled again. "Well, I looked forward to seeing it, Jauney-boy," he said with a grin. "You might wanna put your head down again. It looks like we're going to be landing pretty soon."

It was barely ten minutes until Jaune was puking again.

* * *

The second the airship landed Jaune was out the door and throwing up into another, not so full bin (he had pretty much filled the relatively small one on the airship). Richie couldn't help but laugh; he didn't want to, but Jaune's motion sickness problem just amused him too much. He got out of the airship, still laughing, and patted Jaune on the back as he passed.

"I'll wait for you a little down the way," he said. "Don't worry, Jauney-boy, I won't leave you on your own."

Richie did as he said he would and walked a little away from the airship. Apparently, however, a little bit away was still enough to see some rather extraordinary things happen. There appeared to be some kind of exasperated conversation going on between two students he vaguely recognised from Signal – he didn't know their names. It ended in the older of the two – a buxom blonde who looked like she could kick your ass without blinking – leaving with a group of people and accidentally knocking the younger girl into a dizzied state.

What happened next was one of the strangest experiences of Richie's life.

The younger of the two was a girl who looked to be a couple of years younger than the rest of the students – Richie found this curious but decided not to comment. She had pale Caucasian skin. Her hair was black with a red tint to it, and it came down to just above her shoulders. Her eyes, Richie observed, were a bright silver in colour, which was curious as silver was not a colour commonly associated with eyes. She was dressed in a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing, and a black skirt with red trimmings. The look was completed by a red, hooded cloak. Richie thought she looked quite cool.

In her dizzied state, this girl fell backwards and landed right on a luggage carrier that had been passing by behind her, knocking all of the suitcases on it off and onto the floor.

"What are you _doing_?" asked the apparent owner of these suitcases.

It was another girl, this one the same age as the other students attending the school. Her Caucasian skin was of a pale complexion – though not quite as pale as the younger girl's – and her eyes were an icy blue. Her long, pure-white hair was pulled and tied in an off-centre ponytail; at the base of this ponytail was a small tiara that reminded Richie of icicles. She wore a pale blue bolero jacket over a thigh-length dress of a similar colour; a piece of black lace made up the neckline of the dress. From her turned-up collar it could be seen that the inside of the jacket was red; the jacket turned a darker blue as it got closer to the wrists, being basically white around her shoulders. There was a black snowflake embroidered on the back of the jacket, one that Richie would recognise anywhere – the Schnee family crest. She also wore white, heeled wedge boots that went up to her mid-calf.

The younger girl grunted a little as she attempted to sit up from her spot. "Sorry," she said apologetically.

" _Sorry_?" asked the Schnee girl angrily. "Do you have any _idea_ of the damage you could've caused?"

"Uh …" the younger girl said in confusion. She moved to pick up one of the fallen suitcases, but the Schnee girl snatched it away aggressively.

"Give me that!" snapped the Schnee girl. "This is Dust," she said, opening up the case, "mined and purified within the Schnee quarry."

"Uh …" the younger girl said again, rubbing the back of her head in confusion.

"What are you, _braindead_?" The Schnee girl removed a vial of red Dust from her case and then snapped it shut again. " _Dust_. Fire, water, lightning, _energy_." She waved the vial of Dust around with each word spoken. The Dust could very clearly be seen exiting the vial and spreading through the air.

The younger girl seemed to be experiencing a severe amount of discomfort because of this. Richie could see, mainly due to her constant intake of breath and apparent struggle, that she was about to sneeze. Upon reflection, he decided that he probably shouldn't let that happen, and began to make his way over.

"Are you even listening to me?" asked the Schnee girl, taking no notice of the younger girl's blatant discomfort. "Is _any_ of this sinking in?" She continued to shake the Dust vial unabashed. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The younger girl took one _very large_ breath … and Richie got over just in time to pinch her nose and stop her from sneezing. He stood there for a few moments, waiting. The younger girl looked thankful whereas the Schnee girl looked confused. After waiting a few more moments before releasing his grip on the younger girl's nose, content with the knowledge that he'd averted a potential disaster—

" _Ah …_ " The younger girl took a breath.

"Shit." Richie's sense of dread reached an all-time high.

"… _CHOO_!"

 _BOOM!_

It wasn't a regular explosion. No. That would have been _far_ too simple. Richie, blinded by the explosion, saw naught but flames … and flashes of white that looked like ice … and apparently electricity, too …

 _Holy shitballs on a bike,_ thought Richie in exasperation. _How many different kinds of Dust does that crazy Schnee want to put in one_ fucking _vial?_ As the smoke cleared he found himself covered in ashes, and there were a few patches of ice on his clothes, too. "Well," he said, sighing, "that just happened …"

" _Unbelievable_!" shouted the Schnee girl, raising her arms up into the air. She had quite a lot of ash on her, too. "This is _exactly_ the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, _really_ sorry," apologised the younger girl, poking her fingers together in a sheepish manner.

"To be fair, she's not the only one at fault here," said Richie, shaking all of the ashes off of himself just as the Schnee girl had done moments ago. "That vial of Dust clearly wasn't sealed properly. That's a safety hazard in and of itself. It probably didn't help much that you were shaking the damn thing around so much."

"Shut up!" snapped the Schnee girl. "I don't see how this is any of your business." She turned back to the younger girl with her icy glare. "You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little _young_ to be attending Beacon?"

"Well, I …" The younger girl didn't even have a chance to speak before the Schnee girl started again.

"This _isn't_ your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practising." She crossed her arms over her chest. "We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!"

The younger girl looked annoyed now, and her tone proved it. "Hey, I _said_ I was sorry, _princess_ ," she said angrily.

"It's heiress, actually," said the voice of a girl from beside them.

She was approaching them with a book in one hand and the vial of Dust in the other – it had probably been blown away by the explosion. She had Caucasian skin, long, wavy black hair, and pretty amber coloured eyes that were complemented by purple eye shadow; her eyes were tilted upwards somewhat at the end, giving her face a rather feline quality. In her hair she wore a ribbon in the form of a black bow. She wore black low-heeled boots and stockings that faded from black to purple; on her stockings was a pair of white flowers. She also wore a black buttoned vest with coattails and a white, sleeveless undershirt that exposed part of her midriff. She had a black skirt and a pair of white shorts.

Richie, his nose twitching, took in involuntary sniff, and knew at once that this girl was a Faunus. He smelled something distinctly catlike coming from her, and suspected that the bow was there to hide a pair of cat ears. He felt a sudden pang of sympathy – he sometimes forgot that the Faunus couldn't just Woge to appear human. He decided then and there that he wouldn't say anything. Like with the Wesen, he didn't agree with the decision to hide who you are, but he respected it and wouldn't go against it. He himself had no problem with letting his Wesen side out when the fighting started, but for now people would be more comfortable if he looked human … that, and he had spent so long in human form that the two massive fangs he gained when in Wesen form felt really uncomfortable.

"Weiss Schnee," said the Faunus girl, holding up the Dust vial, "heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest produces of energy propellent in the world …"

"Finally, some recognition," said Weiss smugly.

"… the same company infamous for its controversial labour forces and questionable business partners," the Faunus girl finished without missing a beat.

"Ooh, _snap_!" said Richie, stifling a chuckle. "Shots fucking _fired_."

Weiss looked like she'd been slapped with a fresh salmon. "Wha— How dare— The nerve of—" She glared at the girl and snatched her Dust vial back. Then she walked away in what appeared to be an attempt at being dignified, but really just looked like a tantrum.

"I promise I'll make this up to you!" called the younger girl to Weiss' retreating form.

"Don't bother," Richie advised her. "People like her will always find an excuse for giving you a hard time. It comes with having an upbringing where they can basically abuse anybody they like with little to no consequences."

The younger girl sighed. "At least I'm not the only one that's having a rough first day," she said. "So what's—" She turned in the direction of the Faunus girl to see that she was already walking away. "Right …"

"Don't worry about it," said Richie. "It's the first day, it's not gonna be perfect." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Richie Parker, at your service."

"Ruby Rose," said Ruby happily – and a little nervously – as she took and shook his hand.

"Hey, Richie, thanks for waiting for me," said Jaune. He came up behind them in a bit of a jog, apparently not wanting to waste any more time. "Man, I saw that explosion from over by the airship. That was pretty intense."

"Try being in the middle of it, _then_ tell me how intense it is." Richie grinned. "Jaune, meet Ruby. Ruby, meet Jaune. Ruby here's the one that exploded. Jaune's a nice guy with a bit of a motion sickness problem."

"Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?" Ruby said suddenly.

"Case in point," Richie said cheerfully as Jaune groaned.

* * *

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on," Jaune defended as the three of them made their way around the grounds of Beacon. Now that Richie wasn't distracted, he took a moment to appreciate the architecture – it was like a large fortress with spires and turrets, very nearly resembling a castle but not quite the right shape to be one. It was surrounded by trees; it was also on the top of a cliff, something which Richie noticed as the airship was landing – there was some kind of forest down at the bottom.

"Look, I'm sorry," said Ruby. "Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"That says way more about you than I think you want it to," muttered Richie. If the first thing that came to mind was a derogatory nickname, the odds are that he wouldn't be getting along with her. He decided to forego his opinion on the matter until he had interacted with her more. "He could very easily call you Dragon Lady. After all, you _did_ appear to be sneezing fire back there."

"Hey, that explosion was an _accident_! You _saw_ that!" Ruby's face turned a shade of angry red that was, admittedly, rather adorable.

"Yeah, well it's like Richie says," said Jaune. "The name's _Jaune Arc_. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

"… Do they?" asked Ruby.

Jaune's face fell slack and his eyes and mouth widened, showcasing the surprise and disappointment he felt as Ruby said those words. Richie, for his part, was now holding his gut and trying not to fall to the floor because of his laughter. It was just too fucking _funny_! He doubled over, struggling to breath as the maniacal cackling continued to flood from his mouth. He eventually managed to calm himself down, though he occasionally had to shove his fist in his mouth – being extra careful not to lodge his knuckle-mounted weapons in his mouth – to stop his laughing fit from continuing.

"… _Bullshit_!" Jaune exclaimed in exasperation. "There's no _way_ you both said exactly the same thing! You two planned this!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the two of them, glaring half-heartedly.

"Jaune, bro, me and Ruby met, like, ten minutes ago," reasoned Richie, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "There is literally no possible way we had time to plan this."

"Yeah, but …" Jaune trailed off. He couldn't think of a thing to say to that.

"Soooo," Ruby said after a while, "I got this thing." She grabbed onto something attached to her back – Richie had thought it to be some kind of compressed gun – and flipped it around in rather awesome fashion. It opened up into something much bigger than Richie had expected: a scythe about the same size as – if not _bigger_ than – the girl wielding it. It was big, red, and metallic; there were gears and other mechanical devices all along it. There was something on the blade of the scythe that was blatantly the barrel of a gun.

"Whoa!" Jaune exclaimed, recoiling backwards in surprise. "Is … that a scythe?"

"It's also a customisable, high-impact sniper rifle," said Ruby. She raised the scythe so that the blade was level with her head.

"Uh … what?"

"I'm pretty sure she means it's also a gun, Jauney-boy," said Richie.

"Oh," said Jaune as realisation hit him. "That's cool!"

"So what have you guys got?" Ruby asked them.

Richie raised his fists, showing off his set of bagh naka to the two of them. "I call these _Jangal ke Panje_ ," he told them. "They're a special kind of bagh naka – that's a set of claws that slot over the knuckles – that have different kinds of Dust loaded into the claws. I just press a button on the inside of the claws," he turned over his hand and showed them the underside of his weapons to demonstrate and show a set of four buttons, "and, depending on which button I press, it has a different effect on combat." He pressed one of the four buttons and a clear electrical current could be seen running along the claws. "See?"

"Wow, that's cool!" Ruby said with stars in her eyes. Her love of weapons was clouding over any other thoughts she may have had. "Do they do anything else?"

"Yeah. There's a little button on the side, just next to the thumb." He tilted his hand to show them. "I press it with my thumb and it shoots the claws at whatever I'm pointing them at. Then I press it again, and a magnetic current draws the claws back into their place."

"That's great," said Jaune. He licked his lips in a nervous manner. He began fidgeting. He reached into the scabbard on his hip and pulled out a sword. "I, er … I got this sword."

"Ooh," said Ruby in apparent fascination.

"I've got a shield, too," Jaune said with a little more confidence. He pulled off the scabbard that held the sword and it opened, shifted and turned into a shield.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked, poking the shield.

Ruby's poking of the shield caused it to compress, uncompress, then compress again. Its constant shifting caused Jaune to drop it, and as he moved to catch it it shifted again. After quite some fumbling Jaune had hold of his shield again. "Th-the shield gets smaller," he explained, once again compressing the shield back into a scabbard. "So when I get tired of carrying it, I can just … put it away." He did so, attaching the scabbard to his belt again.

"But … wouldn't it weigh the same?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, it does." Jaune slumped in embarrassment.

"But it doesn't put strain on your arms any more," Richie pointed out with a smile. The other two looked at him curiously. "When you're carrying it, Jaune, yes, it provides a good source of protection, but it also puts strain on your arms and allows them to tire out. Whereas if you shrink it down and put it on your belt, your overall speed _may_ suffer, but the strength and speed of your arm movements will be a lot better than if you were holding it."

"Huh …" Jaune looked down at the shield at his hip with a new appreciation. From the look of his face, he had also gained a little confidence from this. "Thanks, Richie, I hadn't really thought about that sort of thing."

"Yeah, that's a really good way to look at it," said Ruby. She smiled and held her scythe in front of her face. "I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, so I guess I went a little overboard in designing mine."

"Wait, you _made_ that?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

"Of course," said Ruby. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons."

"Yeah," agreed Richie. "I designed mine to be used for hand-to-hand combat, which I always find I'm more comfortable with. Why? Didn't you make yours, Jaune?"

"It's a hand-me-down," explained Jaune. The confidence he had gained previously seemed to vanish in an instant. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight during the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me," said Ruby. She saw Jaune's rather downbeat look and spoke again. "Well, I like it. Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah," said Jaune with a weak smile, "the classics …"

"Don't worry about it, Jauney-boy," said Richie. He hadn't known Jaune for any more than half an hour, but he already knew that he rather liked the guy. His awkwardness and poor attempts at being confident were rather endearing, and they gave him an odd sort of charm. "There are pros and cons to every weapon. Just because yours doesn't have all that many functions doesn't mean it's worthless."

"… Thanks, Rich," said Jaune gratefully. Richie raised an eyebrow at the shortening of his name but said nothing.

"So …" Ruby said, looking to Richie. "Why'd you help me out back there?"

"I didn't think the new students blowing a hole in the school grounds would leave a good first impression," Richie told her. "Plus, that Weiss girl was being kind of a bitch, so I didn't think you should have to deal with that on your own."

"Oh," said Ruby … then she stopped walking. "Hey, where are we going?"

"I don't know, I was following you two," said Jaune.

"I was just going where you two were going," said Richie.

"Y-you think there might be a directory?" asked Jaune. "Maybe a food court? Any sort of recognisable landmark?"

Ruby was struggling to hold in her laughter. Richie wasn't doing too well, either, though he was holding it together better than Ruby was.

"Is … is that a no?"

"That's a no," confirmed Ruby with a laugh.

"Not even here an hour and we're already lost," said Richie, shaking his head and laughing. "That's gotta be some kind of record, hasn't it? I think we'd best start running before we're late."

* * *

It took them quite a lot of time – and quite a lot of running – to find the auditorium where they were supposed to be gathering, but eventually they made it. It was of an impressive size; there was room enough for a few hundred people, not counting the space on the stage at the front of the room. Above the stage there was an emblem of sorts that had the appearance of four diamonds assorted in a diamond formation. The place was jam-packed with students, and it became quickly apparent that finding any spaces in a room like this was going to be an absolute nightmare.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"

Well, a nightmare for Richie and Jaune, anyway, if not for Ruby. The one who called was the blonde girl from before – whom Ruby had told them was her older sister, Yang – and Richie took a better look at her this time. She had Caucasian skin. Her hair was long, blonde, and unkempt with random curls jutting out of it in an assortment of places. Her eyes were a rather lovely shade of lilac. She wore a yellow low-cut crop top with the black shape of a burning heart on the left side; over this top she wore a tan vest with gold piping. This vest had puffy cap sleeves and black cuffs. On her lower half she wore a pair of black shorts held up by a brown belt, which had a large buckle, a pouch, and what appeared to be a small banner with a golden version of the burning heart crest. She had an orange infinity scarf around her neck. One other thing Richie noted – as he was sure every male in the room had by this point – was that she had a rather plump set of breasts.

"Oh. Hey, I gotta go," Ruby said to Richie and Jaune. "I'll see you guys after the ceremony." Then she left the two of them there and headed over to her sister.

Whereas Richie only waved, Jaune said, "Hey, wait!" in a vain attempt to get her to stop. He slumped when she did not. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

"Try looking behind you," Richie suggested with a shrug.

Jaune did just that and ended up finding exactly what he was looking for. The first thing he noticed was that she clearly had a thing for red. The second thing he noticed was how little skin her outfit covered up. She was pale Caucasian – that was apparently a theme with these girls – who wore her long red hair in a waist-length ponytail. Her eyes were a vivid green, emphasised by light green eye shadow in the upper corners of her eyes. She was tall and quite muscular when compared to the other girls Jaune had seen that day. She wore a light brown, strapless top split divided vertically by bronze patterns, and a long bronze V-neck. She also wore a black miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms. There was a red, ankle-length drapery wrapped around her skirt. Under her hair, a bronze headpiece could be glimpsed.

Jaune thought she looked beautiful, and it showed evidently on her face.

Seeing this, Richie grinned to himself and an idea popped into his head. He clapped an arm around Jaune's shoulders and said, "You know what, Jauney-boy, I think you could do with some more interaction with the female gender. We're gonna be surrounded by them for four years, after all." He then used the arm he had around Jaune's shoulders to push him towards the girl he had been staring so intently at.

 _That was a stroke of luck,_ Richie thought as he walked away, only vaguely hearing Jaune's rapid-fire apologies to the girl he'd just collided with. _I was only joking about looking behind him …_

He didn't have long to walk before finding a nice little spot with plenty of leg room. Then he just stood and waited. For what, he was not sure, but there had to be some reason they had all been told to gather here. It would seem pretty pointless otherwise.

"That wasn't very nice," said someone just beside him. It was the girl in black from when Ruby exploded. She had her nose in a book, but Richie could tell she was referring to what he'd just done to Jaune.

"I've known that guy for maybe an hour now, and I can already tell that he's in desperate need of a social life," said Richie. "Plus, he said he wanted a 'nice, quirky girl to talk to,' and anyone who wears that much red just _has_ to be quirky in one way or another, right?"

"I suppose," said the girl.

Things descended into an awkward silence really fast.

"So, I'm Richie," said Richie in an attempt to save the conversation. "What's your name, mysterious anti-Schnee girl?"

"Blake," she said. Then there was more silence.

 _Not much of a talker, is she?_ Richie thought. He couldn't help but wonder what her deal was. Twice she had apparently started a conversation, and twice she had said little else after her initial comment. A lady of few words as well as a Faunus in disguise, apparently. Maybe she was just more interested in her book than she was in other people? That made sense, and Richie could somewhat sympathise. He enjoyed a good read now and then himself, though he tended to keep strictly to the horror genre while occasionally eloping with crime fiction every now and then.

Richie was about to attempt to save the conversation by asking about the book when the reason they had been waiting made itself apparent.

"I'll … keep this brief." Richie hadn't even noticed the man – whom he instantly recognised as Professor Ozpin – step up to the microphone on the stage. Neither had anyone else if their reactions were anything to go by. Ozpin was a middle-aged man of a light Caucasian complexion with tousled brown hair and thin brown eyes behind a pair of round shades. He wore a green scarf with a small, cross-shaped emblem on it. He was wearing an unbuttoned black suit over a buttoned vest and green under-shirt. He also wore black trouser shoes and long, dark green trousers. He was on the stage with Professor Goodwitch.

Everyone went silent the second he began speaking.

"You have travelled here today in search of knowledge," Professor Ozpin said into the microphone. "To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people. But I look out amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With that he stepped away, and the students began to mumble amongst themselves about the rather odd man.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight," said Professor Goodwitch, who was now standing at the microphone. "Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."

"Huh, that was weird," said Richie as the students began bustling and talking all over again. "He barely had any presence at all. He was like a ghos—" He turned and saw that Blake had walked away. "—ghost." He sighed dejectedly.

Blake was a mystery. More to the point, she was a mystery that now had Richie's curiosity. She didn't seem to be one for talking and she spent the entire time with her face buried in that book of hers. She had an apparent – even obvious – distaste for the Schnee Dust Company. She was probably the only Faunus Richie had met that chose to keep their race a secret. Yes, Blake was definitely a mystery, and if there was one thing Richie enjoyed, it was solving a mystery.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as a sharp pain cracked the back of his head.

"Asshole," said Jaune as he stepped from behind Richie to glare at him.

Richie, despite the pain in his head, grinned. "Hey, Jauney-boy, did you make a new friend?" he said.

"Yeah, kind of," said Jaune. He didn't drop his glare. "But you're still an asshole."

"Aw, come on, Jauney-boy, you said you wanted a nice, quirky girl to talk to."

Jaune huffed. "Let's just go to the ballroom," he said.

"We might want to head to the locker room and get changed first," Richie suggested. "I don't know about you, but the shit I'm wearing right now is _not_ comfortable to sleep in."

* * *

Richie now sat in a sleeping bag on the floor of the ballroom, waiting for Jaune to come out of the locker room and join him. He was wearing a black vest with his tiger emblem on it and a pair of dark red pyjama bottoms. He noticed that a few of the girls in the room were ogling the scarred muscles that were on display due to his lack of sleeves, but he ignored them. After a while he saw Jaune coming towards him wearing a bright blue onesie. Richie noticed, from a distance, Ruby's sister look at Jaune a little disgustedly and he couldn't suppress the chuckle that rose to his lips. Yes, Jaune was certainly full of surprises, most of them amusing in one way or another.

"Looking good, Jauney-boy," said Richie as Jaune reached him. "It just _screams_ masculinity."

"Shut up, Rich," said Jaune. "At least I don't have hair that makes me look seven _ty_ rather than seven _teen_."

Richie mimed being stabbed in the heart. "That cuts deep, Jaune," he said, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "That cuts real deep, right there."

"Yeah, well, I'll have you know that when I was talking to Pyrrha, I heard that snow angel tell Ruby she thinks I'm cute," said Jaune with a feeling of triumph.

Richie nearly choked on the air. He didn't know who Pyrrha was – though he assumed it was the girl he'd pushed Jaune into – but he had a pretty good idea that this "snow angel" was none other than Weiss Schnee. Richie couldn't believe that she thought Jaune was cute – no offence to the guy, but Weiss didn't seem the type to put much value in the socially awkward types. It was probably why she hadn't exactly taken to Ruby. It occurred to him that Weiss was probably saying something sarcastic and Jaune just mistook it for seriousness.

"Oh, Jaune," said Richie, shaking his head. "Oh, Jaune, Jaune, Jaune …"

"What?" asked Jaune.

Richie saw the look of offence on Jaune's face and thought better of what he was about to say. "Nothing," he lied. It was probably better to give Jaune something to be happy about on the first day, anyway.

Out of his peripheral vision, Richie saw Yang pull Ruby to her feet and start dragging her across the room. When he saw where they were going, his eyes widened a fraction. They were walking towards Blake, who was clad in a dressing gown, sitting next to a lit candle with her book in her lap. He saw that they were having some kind of conversation and that Blake just looked annoyed by it. Thinking about it, Richie decided that jumping in to this conversation would be the perfect opportunity to find out more about Blake. Her rather mysterious behaviour, combined with her hidden Faunus nature, made his curiosity just too much to be contained.

"Sit tight, Jauney-boy," Richie said to the blonde next to him. "I'll be right back."

Richie got to the three girls just in time to hear Ruby's sister say "Yeah, this girl's a lost cause," but he ignored that.

"What's with the little congregation?" he asked with a friendly smile. Blake looked even more irritated, so he added, "You're not going to talk for hours on end, are you? 'Cause there's people trying to sleep here, just in case you didn't know."

"Hey, Richie," Ruby greeted him. She was wearing a black vest and a white pair of pyjama bottoms that were covered in little hearts. She turned her attention back to Blake. "What's it about?" she asked.

"Huh?" Blake looked at her, surprised.

"Your book," Ruby clarified. "Does it have a name?"

"Well, it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body," Blake explained.

"Oh yeah, that's … real lovely," Yang said sarcastically. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless tank-top with her emblem on it and a pair of black pyjama shorts.

"You know, it actually does," said Richie, fully serious. "Sounds right up my alley, actually. You have great taste in literature," he added, addressing Blake. His love of horror novels attracted him to dark, gruesome concepts such as that.

"I love books," said Ruby. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed, stories of heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I wanna be a Huntress."

"Why is that?" Blake asked with a bit of a laugh. Then she was frowning again. "Hoping to live happily ever after?"

"I'm hoping we all will," said Ruby. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's … very ambitions for a child," said Blake. She was smiling now … a smile that faded almost as quickly as it had appeared. "Unfortunately, the real world _isn't_ the same as a fairy tale."

"Well, that's why _we're_ here," said Ruby. "To make it better."

Richie found himself smiling. He found that Ruby's little speech had filled him with a sense of happiness. "Optimism's always good," he said to the girl in question. His previous mission of finding out about Blake was merely a footnote in his mind at this point. "I like optimism. You keep up that positive attitude, young lady."

Ruby giggled. "Yes, sir."

"Ooh, I'm so proud of my baby sister," said Yang. She wrapped Ruby in a bear hug and lifted her into the air.

"Cut it out!" Ruby snapped … then punched Yang square in the face. The two were then surrounded by a dust cloud and the sounds of punches could be heard emanating from it. And, for some reason, the sound of a cat being pummelled.

"Well, that was … unexpected?" Richie couldn't find adequate words to describe what he was seeing.

"Definitely," said Blake, though she seemed to be in a much better mood than previously. "Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure t—"

"What in the world is going on over here?" asked Weiss as she entered the scene. She was wearing a bright blue night-dress and had her hair down. Ruby was grabbing Yang's leg at this point. "Don't you realise some of us are trying to sleep?" Then she made eye-contact with Ruby.

"Oh, not _you_ again!" both Weiss and Yang yelled at the same time.

"Shh, guys, she's right, people are trying to sleep," Ruby said, quietly but frantically.

"Oh, _now_ you're on my side," said Weiss.

"I was _always_ on your side," argued Ruby.

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister?" demanded Yang. "She's only trying to be nice."

"She's a hazard to my health!" exclaimed Weiss.

"Well, it's certainly been a hell of a first day," said Richie as he eyed the scene before him. He looked at Blake with a raised eyebrow. "Do you think it'll always be this exciting?"

"Probably," said Blake. Then she blew out the candle.

It was only thanks to the keen vision that the Wesen have that he made it back to bed without stepping on anybody.

* * *

 **You know, I'm just now realising, as I'm writing this Author's Note, that Richie's nickname for Jaune is exactly the same as Cardin's … oh well, I can probably get something funny out of that.**

 **So, how did you guys enjoy the first _actual_ chapter of _The Semblance of the Wesen_? I'd like to think it turned out all right, but give me your opinions, folks, otherwise the review section is kind of obsolete. I especially hope you guys like Richie; I did my best to make him likeable without being perfect, but I guess I won't really be able to show off the other aspects of his personality until we get into some deep-ass conversations. I look forward to the development I'm going to be giving him later on.**

 **I'm sure you're all curious to know what became of my decision in terms of the pairing. Well, after a talk with a friend of mine, I've decided to go with Blake. Admittedly I've had that in mind from the beginning, but then it occurred to me that Yang is the only one of the team who doesn't have a love interest (I'm fairly sure that, after the events of _Volume 3_ , they're setting Ruby up to be shipped with Jaune). But when considering the kind of character I'm trying to create, shipping him with Blake just makes more sense.**

 **Now on to a little announcement. Due to the frequent time skips in _RWBY_ , I've decided to fill in these lapses in time with my own story arcs. These arcs will be loosely based on episodes of _Grimm_ and they'll give me an excuse to get to work on the world building for this alternate RWBYverse while also allowing me to include some characters from _Grimm_ as side characters. Expect Monroe to turn up, people; we all love that Blutbad.**

 **Okay, I've gotten all of that out of the way, so now I'm going to respond to the reviews. Yes, I'm doing it at the bottom of the page now so that I can respond to them just before I post a chapter.**

 **Gropau25:** Yes, Wesen, really.

 **GreenDo:** Well … thanks, Green, but that was a motherfucking comma _holocaust_! As you can see, I went with your suggestion, and our conversations outside of the site helped to influence my decision, as well. His rather vigilante-like nature will be explained this chapter. Thank you again.

 **Guest:** This is about the trans-pacific thing, right? Yeah, I already knew about that.

 **zGrimLock:** When you say "Monster", you mean the Skillet song, right? Either way, thanks for the song suggestions; I'll probably use one of those since I haven't gotten any others. Thank you, and I actually got this done a lot earlier than I had expected.

 **After it was suggested to me by the above reviewer, I've decided to make "Monster" by Skillet the official theme song for Richie Parker! I'm actually really happy for that suggestion; Skillet are my favourite band.**

 ***Manticore (pronounced: man-te-kor) are a lion-like species of Wesen with a scorpion tail.**

 **That's all for now, folks, but I will see you guy's in the next chapter (where we'll see Richie kick ass in Wesen form! I told you he wouldn't have any problem with showing himself).**


	3. Richie Reveals Himself During Initiation

**Welcome, Constant Readers, to another chapter of _The Semblance of the Wesen_! I've been looking forward to this one, because this and next chapter will cover the initiation of the students into Beacon. We'll also be getting a look at Richie _really_ letting loose on the Creatures of Grimm, both in human form _and_ Wesen form. He won't be hiding a God damned thing.**

 **Let's begin.**

* * *

Richie Reveals Himself During Initiation

Richie awoke to the chirping of birds from outside the ballroom he and the other students had gone to sleep in the night before. The sun was shining in through the windows, but it looked like it was only just rising. That was pretty normal. Richie had always been an early riser, and he was much more of a morning person than most other people his age. He released a long, quiet yawn and then sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked around at the other students. There were a few empty sleeping bags but it looked like he was one of the first to wake up.

He looked to his left to see Jaune still asleep, drooling a little. After some thought, Richie decided not to wake him. He would go and get some breakfast, then, if Jaune still wasn't awake in an hour or so, he would come back and wake him up. No need to wake the guy up too early. Not everyone was a morning person.

He stood from his sleeping bag and stretched. The pops and clicks he heard coming from his arms and legs as he did so satisfied him, made him feel even more awake. He then walked out of the ballroom, being careful not to step on any of the sleeping forms in his path as he did so.

He stopped by the locker room to get dressed into his battle gear, then went for breakfast.

The cafeteria wasn't difficult to find, and when he got there he noticed that there were, indeed, a few sleepy-looking students scattered about amongst the tables, pretty much all nursing a steaming cup of coffee in their hands. Richie found that amusing – he felt wide awake even without the stuff. He made his way over to the serving area and grabbed himself a cup of tea with two teaspoons of sugar, a plate of waffles, an apple, and even a glass of orange juice for some cool refreshment afterwards. If there was one thing Richie liked it was a healthy meal – the perks of having a high metabolism.

Richie was halfway through both his tea and his waffles when another tray of food was placed on his table. He looked up and found himself surprised. Jaune looked groggy but otherwise he was wide awake. On his tray was a bowl of Special K and a large cup of steaming black coffee.

"How the hell can you eat that much so early in the morning?" Jaune asked as he sleepily eyed Richie's food.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Jauney-boy," said Richie, grinning. "You wanna get as much energy from it as you can."

"The energy part I can agree with," said Jaune. He took a large gulp of the coffee and very nearly spat it all out again when he realised how hot it was. Remarkably, however, he managed to swallow it. "Okay, _that_ was a mistake."

"Yeah, you might wanna blow on that," advised Richie. "Or at the very least wait awhile to drink it. Here," he reluctantly handed over his orange juice, "this should cool your throat down a bit."

"Thanks, Rich." He gulped down the entire glass in just a few seconds, sighing in satisfaction as it was drained entirely. "That's _much_ better." He picked up his spoon and began to eat his cereal.

Richie took the time they spent eating in silence to think about the mysterious initiation. What did it entail? They were told to meet on the cliff overlooking the forest, so that may have something to do with it. Other than that one little detail, however, he knew next to nothing about what he and the rest of the students were going to be doing that day. He had heard mutterings about "teams" the night before, but he would imagine that team placements are the sort of thing that was decided _after_ the initiation. Even so, what variables would dictate the teams? Would they be completely random, or would their be some kind of criteria?

Richie took a deep, calming breath. Despite his confident exterior, he was beginning to feel nervous about this whole thing. The possibility that he might get teamed up with a group of radical racists occurred to him. Would his mission to bring the Wesen back to society be affected if he was in a team with a group of people who discriminated against the Faunus for their differences? How would such people react to finding out about the Wesen? These questions did not put Richie's mind at ease, and his nerves were beginning to spike against his will.

"You okay?" Jaune asked him, cutting through his thoughts. He looked genuinely concerned. "You're starting to look a little tense."

Richie didn't acknowledge the irony that it was _Jaune_ asking _him_ this until later. "I'm fine," he said. He had finished his waffles and tea, and was beginning to eat his apple now. "Just nerves, you know. I guess the impact of where I am is starting to set in."

"Oh, I know what you mean," said Jaune. "But I got it all outta the way yesterday. I'm as cool as a cucumber now."

"Oh yeah?" Richie raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You sure about that?"

"Y-yeah," Jaune stuttered, his apparent confidence slipping away from him. "Wh-why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," said Richie, waving his hand dismissively. "Well then, Jaune, I look forward to taking the initiation with you. It'll be a great time to show me your badass side." He _had_ to have a badass side, right? He would have to have some impressive combat ability to be accepted into Beacon. So he had to have combat prowess even if he didn't have social skills.

"S-sure!" Jaune said in faux confidence. "You'll be falling to your knees and worshipping me!"

They both finished their breakfast relatively soon after that. Richie, thinking about it, grabbed another glass of orange juice before he left. The cafeteria had filled up as they were eating, and most – if not all – of the other students were awake now.

Richie and Jaune headed to the locker room to pick up their weapons.

* * *

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal … a secret signal so we can find each other in the forest. Can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora."

"Yes, Ren?"

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

"… That's why it's PERFECT! No one will suspect we're working together."

"Come on, Nora, let's go."

"But not 'together' together …"

 _Why do I get the feeling that conversation has been going on for hours?_ Richie asked himself as the overly hyperactive and chipper girl and her relatively silent friend walked past him and out of the locker room. He could only shake his head and sigh as he watched them go. _Well, every school has the eccentric students, I guess …_

He and Jaune had separated after breakfast, Jaune saying he needed to go to the bathroom. Richie was surprised to still be waiting; he thought for sure that Jaune should have finished up by now. Richie had strapped his _Jangal ke Panje_ on to his knuckles and was now checking the claws themselves to make sure that everything was where it needed to be. When everything appeared to be in good working order, he closed his locker and leaned against it.

"Wonder what those two are so worked up about?" came Ruby's voice from the other side of the lockers Richie was using.

"Who knows?" said the voice of Yang. "So, you seem awfully chipper this morning."

"Yep," said Ruby. "No more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."

"Well, if talking to me is such a chore, I'll be sure to leave you be in future," said Richie as he poked his head around the row of lockers. "God knows I wouldn't want to keep you away from your …" he became confused as he noticed Ruby caressing her scythe, Crescent _Rose_ , in a rather loving fashion, "… sweetheart?"

"… Yeah," Ruby said after an awkward pause, blushing in embarrassment. " _Crescent Rose_ is my sweetheart. You got a problem with that!?"

Richie held up his hands in surrender. "No, ma'am, no problem at all." As strange as it was that she was referring to her weapon as "sweetheart," Richie was too intimidated by the weapon itself to say so out loud. He cleared his throat and looked to Yang. "Hi. I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Richie."

"Well, _helloooooo_ ," said Yang, moving her eyes up and down Richie's body. He shifted somewhat uncomfortably, and a wave of embarrassment came over him. "The name's Yang, but you can call me whatever the hell you want."

"… Okay." Richie cleared his throat, attempting to force down the crimson that now coated his cheeks. "Nice to meet you, Yang. Ruby's told me quite a bit about you."

"Oh, did she?" asked Yang. "All good, I hope? Or bad. Either one works for me." She winked at him.

 _I hope to God she stops this relatively soon …_ Richie was not one to flirt, nor was he very often flirted _with_. He could only shuffle awkwardly in place as the blonde bombshell's eyes roamed over his body. Even when fully clothed, something about her gaze made him feel naked – violated, even. She seemed to have a good sense of humour, so they'd probably get along well, but she would have to stop this first.

" _Yang_ …" Ruby groaned. "Please stop … you're embarrassing me …"

"She's embarrassing _you_?" Richie asked, incredulous. "What about _me_? I'm the one who feels like molten hot magma has just crawled under my God damn skin!"

"Well, _you're_ not the one who has to sit here and watch her sister flirt with one of her friends!" Ruby argued.

"No, I'm just the guy whose friend's sister is flirting with him!"

Yang laughed very loud and very hard. "See, Ruby?" she said. "If you can make friends with someone this quickly, how hard can it be to make others? It'll really help you to grow up."

Ruby groaned. "You sound like _dad_ ," she whined. "First of all, what does making friends have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink _milk_."

Richie just stared. _Okay,_ he thought, _that was absolutely … adorable. She sounded like a little kid trying to convince mom and dad that she's all grown up._ He wisely kept these thoughts to himself.

"But what about when we form teams?" asked Yang.

"I don't know, I … I'll just be on your team, or something …" Ruby mumbled, looking unsure of herself.

" _Maybe_ you should try being on someone else's team," Yang suggested, running her hands through her hair nervously.

Ruby was in front of her in an instant, pointing an accusing finger in her face. "My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"I think what Yang is _trying_ to say," Richie cut in, "is that being on someone else's team might help you get used to hanging out with other people. It could really benefit you in future if you, say, break out of your shell."

" _What_?" Ruby asked. "I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely—"

"—ridiculous!" exclaimed Jaune as he walked past them. "There's no way I put my gear in locker six-three-six yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high!"

"Did you _seriously_ forget where you put your stuff, Jaune?" Richie asked him with a raised eyebrow and a grin of amusement. "You know, you could've just asked. We _did_ put our gear in neighbouring lockers."

"Oh, hey, Rich!" said Jaune. He looked utterly relieved that he had come across Richie. "Can you show me where the locker is?"

Richie rolled his eyes in false exasperation. "Sure thing," he said. "Dear me, Jauney-boy, what would you do without me?"

"Be a lot more confused but with a less painful headache," Jaune said in a deadpan.

"Ooh, Jaune, you wound me." Richie held a hand over his heart as if stabbed. "And here I thought we were friends."

"The bromance is strong with these two," Yang commented.

"So, Jaune," Richie said, "I've been hearing a lot about teams and partnerships this morning. How do you feel about that?"

He didn't dare show how nervous he felt about the whole thing. He had been so confident, in such a good mood about being at Beacon, that any lapse into his worried thoughts would surely gain attention – even Jaune would be likely to notice, as he had at breakfast earlier. He wanted to get Jaune's thoughts so that maybe, just maybe, he could let out some of the tension he was feeling without seeming to panic.

"I'm, er …" Jaune thought for a moment, then something caught his eye. "I'm feeling great about it! Now, if you'll just excuse me for a moment, Rich, I've got a little something to do."

"Huh?" Richie said, confused, as Jaune moved past him. He looked to where Jaune was heading and saw Weiss and the girl he had pushed Jaune into yesterday – had he said her name was Pyrrha? – talking by some of the lockers. "Well, this should be good …" Richie mumbled to himself.

"You know what else is great?" Jaune said, stepping between Weiss and Pyrrha – Richie could see that he was speaking almost exclusively to Weiss. "Me. Jaune Arc. Hi, Pyrrha," he said, looking at her over his shoulder.

"Hello," Pyrrha greeted friendlily.

"You again?" Weiss asked Jaune in annoyance.

"So, Weiss," Jaune began. "Couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

Weiss put her hand to her forehead. "Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me …"

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed. So, been hearing rumours about teams, I was thinking you and me would make a good one. What do you say?"

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each," said Pyrrha. "So—"

"You don't say. Well, Pyrrha, play your cards right and you could end up playing with the winning team." He jabbed a thumb at his own chest.

 _Where the hell does this confidence come from?_ Richie wondered as he watched the exchange. _One minute he's stuttering like a broken record, the next he's trying to chat up beautiful girls … what the hell_ is _this guy?_

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss asked, getting between Jaune and Pyrrha. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"I'm talking to Pyrrha, Snow Angel," said Jaune.

"This is Pyrrha _Nikos_ ," said Weiss, pointing at Pyrrha, who waved a little awkwardly. "She graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Never heard of it."

"She's won the Minstral Regional Tournaments three years in a row, a new record."

"The what?"

"SHE'S ON THE FRONT OF EVERY PUMPKIN PETE'S MARSHMALLOW FLAKES BOX!"

Jaune gasped, then pointed at Pyrrha. "That's _you_!?"

 _That's_ her _!?_ Richie yelled within his mind.

"They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Yeah," said Pyrrha. "It was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"So, after hearing all of this," said Weiss, "do you really think you're in a position to ask _her_ to be on your team?"

"I-I guess not …" Jaune hung his head forward, slumping a little in depression. "Sorry …"

"Actually, Jaune," said Pyrrha, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "I think you'd make a _great_ leader."

"Oh, stop it!" Jaune said with bashfulness that Richie suspected was only half fake.

"Seriously, please stop it," said Weiss. "This kind of behaviour should _not_ be encouraged."

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune," Jaune said, getting close to Weiss. "Spots are filling up quick. Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you." He leaned in. "What do you say?"

"All right, that's a bit too close," said Weiss, backing away from Jaune. "Pyrrha, a little help please!"

What happened next happened so fast that Richie barely had time to register it. A spear appeared to come out of nowhere, slammed into Jaune, and sent him flying. Within a moment, Jaune was being held, by the hood, against the locker just to the right of Richie, who was staring wide-eyed. He briefly noted that the sword Pyrrha had in her sheath was gone, and deduced that it had become the spear he was now seeing piercing Jaune's hood.

"Whoa …" said Richie.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called over to Jaune.

"Will all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation," came the voice of Professor Goodwitch over the school's intercom system. "Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Weiss and Pyrrha walked past Richie and Jaune on their way out of the locker room. Pyrrha removed her spear from Jaune's hood, and said, "It was nice talking to you again," then she left.

"Come on, Jauney-boy," Richie said as he pulled Jaune – who had fallen to the floor upon the removal of the spear – to his feet. "Don't let it get you down too much. You can't win 'em all, as they say."

"I don't understand …" said Jaune. "My dad said all women look for is confidence … Where did I go wrong …?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start," said Yang, walking past the two of them and out of the locker room.

Ruby stayed, and Richie, Jaune and Ruby walked down the Beacon Cliff together.

* * *

Richie looked around as he and the other students gathered on Beacon Cliff. They had been instructed to stand on these strange platform things – they stuck out like sore thumbs, and if they weren't some sort of catapult system then Richie would Woge right here and now, and eat one of his own clawed hands.

Before the students stood Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. Ozpin stood with one hand behind his back and a coffee mug in the other; Goodwitch stood holding a Scroll in her crossed arms.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin addressed them, "and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now," Goodwitch continued for him, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given team-mates … _today_."

"These team-mates will be with you for the remainder of your time here at Beacon," said Ozpin, "so it is in your best interests to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

… _Shit …_ Richie's previous dread at being given unpleasant team-mates came back full-force. _The first person you make eye-contact with after landing …_ Those words kept playing through his mind, over and over, as he felt a cold wave of fear wash over him. He took deep breaths in order to calm himself down, but it did little to help. He swallowed down the moan of despair that he was sure was making its way to his lips, and gritted his teeth. This had just gotten a lot more complicated.

" _What_?" said Ruby in despair.

Suddenly Richie felt a little better. At least he wasn't the only one with reservations about this arrangement.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest," Ozpin instructed. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path … or you _will_ die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and we will grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um, sir," said Jaune, putting up his hand.

"Good," said Ozpin, ignoring him. "Now, take your positions."

Richie, aware that every student other than Jaune was getting into a position of preparation, moved to a crouch, almost like the kind athletes get into at the start of a race. He could worry about the details of his team later; for now, he had to concentrate on landing.

"Uh, sir," Jaune said again. "I've got a, um, question."

The catapults began firing students into the forest as he spoke.

"This landing strategy … thing, what is it? You're, like, dropping us off, or something?"

"No," said Ozpin. "You will be falling."

"Oh, I … see," said Jaune. "So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh … huh … yeah. So, what exactly is a landing stra—" His question became a scream of utter terror as the catapult beneath him launched him into the air and towards the forest at high speeds.

Richie couldn't help but laugh, and he felt some of the built-up fear leave him. "Okay, that was pretty funny," he said as he chuckled to himself. He braced himself as he felt the catapult vibrate slightly beneath him – probably the mechanisms at work – and before he knew it, he had been launched into the air, and was flying high over the trees of the Emerald Forest.

He felt it all: the wind blowing through his hair, slicking it back and holding it; the feeling of elevation from being so high up; the churning of his stomach as he felt just how _fast_ he was going; and, most of all, calmness. Despite the fact that he was currently flying through the air at top speeds, Richie felt a strange sense of serenity up here. All his worries were gone. So what if he got placed on a team of racists? He could just report them and request a transfer, couldn't he? Surely Beacon would have something like that in their system. The sense of calm sharpened his senses, and he became aware that he was now descending just as rapidly as he had ascended.

Seeing a tree coming up before him – quite a long way before him – he straightened himself up in the air, turning himself so that his fists – the claws of the _Jangal ke Panje_ protruding from the area of his knuckles – were aimed in front of him and his legs were trailing behind, almost like a superhero. The top of the tree was approaching rapidly. Thirty metres … twenty metres … ten metres … five metres …

 _SMASH!_

Richie slammed fists-first into the top of the tree, and through sheer force, the top of the tree was severed from the rest of it. Richie, clinging to the severed tree-top with the claws of his bagh naka, grinned in triumph as the tree-top crashed through the other trees of the forest, slowly but surely coming to a stop. Eventually, it flattened out and skidded along the leaf-covered floor, and Richie dug his bagh naka out of the severed tree-top, and then brushed himself down. He hopped off the tree-top – on which he had still been standing – and looked around.

 _Not a bad landing, all things considered,_ he thought, nodding to himself in satisfaction. _Probably did a little more damage to the forest than was necessary, though … I wonder if I'll get in trouble for that …_

He shrugged it off, deciding to find out later if his landing strategy had been too extreme. For now all he had to do was head north and find this temple.

He checked the placement of the sun – it was still relatively early, and as such it should be no problem to find north based on the sun's current location. He found it, and began walking in the right direction, thinking idly, but alert of his surroundings all the same. The shrubbery of the forest was thick, and Richie found that he had to push many bushes and branches out of his way in order to continue. His eyes darted over every little detail as he went. If the forest was near as full of Grimm as he thought it probably was, then he could be attacked at literally any moment. Best to be prepared.

His sensitive hearing picked up the snapping of a twig nearby … then a low growling sound. Richie tightened his fists and prepared for a fight. He could hear its creeping footsteps as it got closer, trying to take him by surprise …

A bush to the right of Richie's back almost seemed to open. A Beowolf – a black wolf-like Grimm with an armoured mask made of skull on its face – leapt through the shrubbery in an attempt to attack Richie from behind.

Richie was ready, though. He used one of his fingers on his right hand to push down one of the four switches on the inside of his bagh naka, which gained a strange red glow. He turned in an instant, and drove his right fist into the chest of the Beowolf before it could even touch him. The Beowolf howled in pain as fire seemed to sprout from its mouth, nose, and eyes, and it dissolved into nothingness whilst still impaled on Richie's _Jangal ke Panje_.

 _The fire Dust function is always fun to use,_ Richie thought, grinning to himself. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, though … he had expected more of a fight …

He sighed, and continued through the forest. He was starting to hope he would run into somebody soon; this was getting awfully dull. While he would not normally wish an attack on himself, he was in a forest full of Grimm and all he had encountered thus far was a singular Beowolf. That was not only boring and anticlimactic, it was also rather irregular – Beowolves normally travelled in packs.

Richie reached a clearing … and stopped dead.

He was being stalked. He could _hear_ them … there were a lot of them … He kept on listening, and discovered that there were the noises of quiet footsteps all around him.

 _Damn!_ Richie cursed in his mind. He had been so distracted and consumed by his feelings of boredom that he had walked right into a trap. These clever soulless bastards. They had just let him walk into it.

Apparently they realised that he knew of the trap, because barely a moment later a pack of what looked to be twenty or thirty Beowolves crept their way out of the shrubbery surrounding the clearing. There was one in front of Richie that was bigger than the others and had a number of spikes jutting from its back – the Alpha.

Richie looked around, looked at the pack of vicious, murdering creatures surrounding him … and grinned.

 _Show time …_ he thought gleefully.

He didn't clench his fists; he spread his fingers like they were claws. He didn't get into a fighting position; he bared his teeth and growled. He Woged into his Wesen form – grey fur with black stripes; cat-like ears; clawed hands; two massive fangs protruding from his mouth – and looked around at the Beowolves menacingly, grinning.

"Come on, then," he said in a voice that was more growl than voice. "Come and get me, you bastards!"

Seemingly in response to the challenge, the Beowolves charged, growling and roaring as they advanced upon the Mauvais Dentes.

To call it a fight would have been generous. What Richie did to these Beowolves was nothing short of brutal, bloody slaughter. He clawed the first five's throats without even trying, and they were dead before they'd even had a chance to attack. He tore one of their throats out with his massive fangs. He poked his claws into the eye-sockets of three more. He tore open the stomachs of ten, allowing their internal organs to spill out disgustingly before they evaporated into nothingness. He bit, he clawed, he disembowelled, and eventually it was just the Beowolf Alpha staring him down in the clearing.

The Beowolf's eyes were full of rage and savagery, a need to kill, to rip apart the creature that dared to slaughter its kin in such a manner. Richie's eyes were sharp, calm, and concentrated. Contrary to how it may appear, what he had just done was not mindless. He knew the ways he could fight in his Wesen form, and he utilised all of them, no matter how brutal they may appear. Doing whatever it takes to win a fight is _not_ an act of savagery; it's just common sense.

"Come at me," Richie said to the Beowolf. "Or are you just a scared little bitch?"

The Beowolf Alpha howled then charged. It got close to Richie and swung a massive, clawed arm downwards. Richie dodged it, and brought his claws up, scratching a large, bloody tear on the edge of the Beowolf's mouth. The creature of Grimm roared with pain and rage, and brought its other arm around to hit Richie. Richie jumped over the arm, and brought one of his claws down across the Beowolf's face, dragging it over the beast's left eye. There was a sickening _pop_ sound as the eye exploded and blood spilled out of where it used to be.

The Creature of Grimm howled and reared back, waving its arms around in a poor attempt at defence as it tried to recover from its lost eye. Richie took advantage of its disoriented state and charged forward, digging both of his clawed hands into its stomach, and pulled outwards. The Beowolf's stomach opened up and an assortment of blood and guts spilled out and on to the floor.

The Beowolf fell to its knees, but was not dead yet. Richie leapt forward and, encountering very little resistance, sank his two giant fangs into the Beowolf's neck. The creature fell to the floor and dissolved, as did all of the blood and guts it had left behind, effectively leaving Richie clean of any that may have spilled on to him.

Richie Woged back to human form. "I hope their cameras caught that," he muttered. That was the first time he had been in Wesen form where anyone of any significant standing had a chance of seeing him. He _wanted_ them to see him. He wasn't hiding any more.

"Whoa," said a familiar voice behind him. It was Yang … and Blake was with her. "That was some freaky-deaky shit."

"I do my best," Richie said with a tired grin. He _was_ tired. Beowolves or not, fighting that number of Grimm that quickly would have tired anybody out … except maybe Ruby, but that girl seemed to have more energy than was humanly possible.

"You're a Wesen?" said Blake. Her eyebrows were raised.

"I'm surprised," said Richie, turning to look at her with a similar expression. "Not many people tend to know about us these days. And those that do think we're all dead. How is it that you know?"

"I've read a lot of history books," Blake told him. From the look on her face, Richie got the strange feeling that she wasn't telling the whole truth. "They say nobody heard from the Wesen after the Civil Rights War, so everyone thought they'd all died. It would appear they were wrong."

"Well, whatever you are, _that_ was both awesome and _scary_ ," said Yang, referring to the fight beforehand.

"Awesome is good; scary not so much," said Richie. "Speaking of which, how much of that did you two see?"

"We saw you take down the Alpha," said Blake. "We came along just as the others were dissolving."

"Ah," said Richie, nodding. They stood in awkward silence for a moment. "So … shall we go?"

"Yeah, we really should," said Yang. Richie was surprised at how cool she was with the whole Wesen thing. Considering that she had apparently never heard of them, she was strangely calm about the whole thing. It would seem he had gotten lucky and come across one of the more tolerant humans. "The temple can't be _that_ far off …"

The three of them set off north in a relatively comfortable silence, though Richie couldn't help but notice Blake glance at him every now and then. She looked worried about something …

* * *

"Think this is it?" Yang asked as the three of them came upon a crumbling stone structure.

"You mean the circular temple-looking thing that's falling to pieces?" Richie asked. "No. This definitely isn't it, and we should probably just keep moving."

Blake rolled her eyes at both of them and walked forward, the other two following shortly after. In the temple were a number of pedestals, each one with a white or black chess piece resting atop it. The chess pieces were so blatantly new compared to the structure in which they were located that Richie had little doubt that these were the relics they seeked.

"Chess pieces?" said Blake.

"Some of them are missing," Yang observed.

"Which means we're not the first ones here," concluded Richie. "On a more positive note, anything big and scary that was hanging out here probably went after whoever _were_ the first ones here."

"Aw, that's too bad," said Yang, sounding disappointed. And that's how Richie figured out he was in the presence of a battle-lover.

"I guess we should pick one," said Blake.

"Hmm," Yang hummed as she leaned over a particular pedestal. She picked up the white knight chess piece and held it up with a smile on her face. "How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure," said Blake.

"Whatever works for you, I guess," said Richie. He was joking, of course, the knight piece was as good a piece as any. "Do you think I should pick one up? I don't exactly have a partner …"

"There are only five left," Blake observed. "Either there's somebody else who hasn't got a partner yet, or there are just one too many students this year. Either way, there are five pairs that don't have one yet."

"Huh …" Richie clicked his tongue in thought. Should he take one, or should he wait? He wasn't sure.

Unfortunately, his thought process was cut off when a high-pitched scream of terror resounded through the forest, causing all three of them to snap their heads around in surprise.

"Some girl's in trouble!" exclaimed Yang.

 _That sounded kind of like Jaune …_ Richie thought, and then struggled to stifle the chuckle that rose to his lips.

"Richie, Blake, did you guys _hear_ that?" Yang asked the two of them.

"It was pretty hard to miss," said Richie. He was spinning a finger around in one of his ears. He sensitive hearing meant that he heard an amplified version of the scream – which is how he was able to distinguish it as Jaune – and it _really_ hurt his ears.

Then his sensitive ears picked up another sound, this one from _above_ them.

" _Heads uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup_!"

Ruby was falling from the sky.

As strange as his being a Wesen was to these people, Richie got the feeling that it was about to be undermined by something even stranger.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap, folks! I'm splitting the initiation into two parts, so the big fight will be coming next time. I hope you guys have enjoyed it, and I know the scene where Richie ripped apart the Beowolves was a little brief, but bear with me please, I'm trying to improve on my action scenes. I promise there'll be more detailed fight scenes involving him in the future.**

 **Now, before we end it, time to answer some reviews!**

 **pyrojack25:** Ha-ha, yep, more _RWBY_ stuff. I haven't read ShadowBladeKnight's but I've read Wraith002's, and I love those. Richie will be in a team, yes, but which team will be revealed next time (because the R could fit in either RWBY _or_ JNPR).

 **Guest:** That's fine, I'll be explaining most of it, anyway. Thanks for the support.

 **See you next time!**


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